Thursday, May 24, 2012

Farming News

Our second rice crop was successfully harvested and we almost doubled our yield compared to the previous year.  This will give us plenty of food to feed the boys and some of the bags will be sold to generate income.  Although the harvest had to be brought forward because heavy rains were predicted, it's been extremely dry in the months since then.  Like many farmers in the region, we haven't been able to plant follow up crops due to scarcity of water and electricity for irrigation. The KBC kids church cow gave birth to her third calf, a healthy male, so our animal family continues to slowly grow.

The harvest produced 113 bags of rice

The new calf and his mother are doing really well

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Israel and the younger boys on the roof of the main building at Shalom




















Israel's Visit to Australia

After two refusals, we finally had a visa for Israel to visit us in Brisbane 2 days before he was due to fly.  Unfortunately we couldn't get Hannah's Australian and Malaysian visas approved in time so she had to stay home which was incredibly dissappointing.  However we give thanks that Israel was able to come as we'd already booked lots of meetings and presentations during the two weeks we was going to spend with us here in Brisbane.  He arrived at the Gold Coast airport to cold and rainy weather, such a contrast to the dry heat of Madurai.  As we drove along the motorways to our place, we only passed one person walking along the side of the road and had to assure him that there really were people living in Brisbane.  The next two weeks he had to get used to different traffic, different food, different ways of doing things, just like we do when we visit India. He'd being dreaming of coming to Australia since he was a boy and had a great time. Since his return everyone who looks at his photos comments how beautiful Australia looks, so clean and tidy, but where are all the people and cars?  In the following posts you'll see photos of some of the things we did during his visit.

Geoff presenting Israel with Australian widlflowers and a kangaroo

Israel's Visit to Aus - KBC Kid's Church and Info Night

We dropped in to see the kids at Kenmore Baptist Kid's Church.  For the past three years they've done an annual fundraiser for Shalom Children's Home and provided us with money to buy our first cow and calf, a TV and bunks for the boys.  On Thursday 3 May we held a Shalom Information Evening at Kenmore Baptist Church to share about what's been achieved so far and what we have planned for the future.  We had about 80 people in attendance and were really encouraged by all the positive feedback.

Visiting the prep group downstairs

Talking to Ronel's group who had lots of questions
People arriving for our Shalom Info Evening

Israel's Visit to Aus - sponsor's afternoon tea

On 29 April we hosted a special afternoon tea for our child sponsors Unfortunately many couldn't make it because they lived out of town, or had prior commitments.  Those who came got to ask lots of questions and hear some of the boys personal stories of what life was like for them before they came to Shalom.  In the Indian tradition, Israel presented each family with a shawl as our way of honouring them and expressing our thanks and appreciation for their incredible support.  Those sponsors who couldn't make it, I promise to post your shawl out to you soon.








Israel's Visit to Aus - Meeting with GDG

We visited the offices of our project partner Global Development Group so Israel could meet the staff and spend some time discussing the next phase of our project.  Projects normally get approval for a 3 year period and we are approaching the end of our first 3 years.  This means we have to prepare documentation for the next 3 year period, so I'll be busy with writing up goals, strategies, budgets and grant submissions over the next few weeks.  We particularly thank Geoff Armstrong, Fe Luscombe and Samantha Robb for their help and guidance in running our project. We came away from the meeting with some helpful ideas and strategies for improving the effectiveness of our next phase and Israel presented Samantha with a shawl on behalf of the project.

Sam receiving her shawl

At GDG's offices with Geoff, Fe and Sam

Israel's Visit to Aus - Payne Road State School

Israel and I visited Payne Road State School and talked to the children about what life and school is like for children living in our village.  The children listened attentively and asked lots of questions.  Classes are collecting money to buy books and sporting equipment for our village school and uniforms and school supplies for students who's families can't afford to buy them.  We're looking forward to developing an on-going relationship between Payne Road State School and Errampatti Middle School through the exchange of letters between students.  A big thank you to the school chaplain Chris Bullock for her help in arranging this new partnership.  Please scroll down through the blog to see more pictures of Errampatti Middle School in an earlier post.
Meeting the Chapliancy leaders





Israel with the some of the younger students

The students listened keenly to our stories

Karen got volunteers up to help

Israel wearing his Payne Road school hat
School assembly at Errampatti Middle School

Israel's Visit to Aus - Sightseeing

For all those who think we packed out all of Israel's time with meetings - yes there were a lot- we did set aside some time to show him the sights around Brisbane and introduce him to some of our Aussie animals.  The day we visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and caught a city cat up the Brisbane River was one of his favourites. He even got to cuddle a koala and pat some kangaroos and an emu.

Feeding lorikeets at Lone Pine

Our sheep look very different to Indian sheep
The kangaroos just wanted to snooze in the sun
Cuddling a koala

Enjoying the parklands at South Bank

Waiting to catch the city cat up the river


Cruising past the Brisbane CBD
An Aussie shaped bush at Riverside Rocks Park

The view of Brisbane from Mt Cootha
Please click OLDER POSTS link below to keep reading

Israel's Visit to Aus - meeting friends and family


We really enjoyed having Israel stay with us.  The time went so quickly but it was great for him to finally meet our boys and to introduce him to many of our friends.  Thanks to all those who made him feel so welcome.
Dinner with our family at a Thai restaurant
At the beach with Jany and Benoit

With KBC friends at the Bullock's
Catching up with Kerrie and Peter
Dinner with the Kancherla & Nerudumilli families

 

Errampatti Village School

We're really excited about the new connections we're making with Errampatti Middle School in our village.  Over the last couple of months talks have been underway with the new principal and we hope to start a evening tutoring program at the school in June.  We've been trying to get this up and running for over a year but sometimes things take longer than we expect.  The other exciting news is that Payne Road State School at The Gap in Brisbane is now working with us to fundraise for equipment for the school and uniforms, bags and school supplies for poor families in our village.  Our aim is to increase school attendance amongst the poorer families and help provide a better learning environment for all the children in our village. The school has about 450 students in 10 classes.  There are no toilets for the boys.  Grade 9 and 10 classes were added to the school at the beginning of the year but the additional classrooms are still being built so the 2 youngest classes are presently having their lessons under trees in the playground.

No fancy playgrounds here
The day starts with morning prayers

Pointing out where Australia is on the world map
Younger students waving their greetings
Two classes have their lessons under trees





The students don't have any desks or chairs






March to April at Shalom


The second floor is looking really good now and Israel has managed to keep everything way under budget, which is great news.  Well done Israel. We're just waiting on the painters and tilers to complete their work.  Unfortunately power cuts have continued to increase as we head into the hotter weather, so the people making the bunk beds we've ordered for the boys are way behind schedule.  At this stage we're hoping everything will be finished so the boys can move upstairs in June.

Israel was planning to harvest the rice in the second week of April, but heavy rain at the beginning of the month meant we had to act quickly or risk losing the whole crop.  In the end we got everything harvested before the rains did too much damage and our yield was 113 bags, twice as many as last year.  This will give us plenty of food and some income from sales.

The freshly harvested fields

Bags of rice ready for storage





The boys filling the new duck pond with water